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Friday, 24 September 2010

Guiness Book Of World Records No-Nos

This fellow holds the record for the largest collection of "Chucks". I'm assuming they're shoes.

One of the most interesting things about the Guinness Book of World Records is the list of accomplishments that they won’t consider/accept. They actually have to list these items to make sure people don't kill themselves trying to get in the book!

And I quote:

We do not consider/accept

claims for thinnest people

gluttony records whereby people consume mass amounts of food

records which involve driving between two points in the least amount of time out of concern for public safety and the legality of encouraging such events.

medical records like the most operations in a short time span (from the patient or the doctor? OMG)!

Then there are the really dumb things:

youngest or oldest variants of existing categories (i.e. longest tongue for a 14 year old)

records for car sales as there are too many variables: model, price, location, time of day, the weather.

claims for silent reading (ha ha ha)

records regarding listening to music or the radio for the longest time

most generations with the same name.........

I think they should disqualify people who are obviously not taking their prize seriously:

The World’s largest collection of: Rubber bands

Approximately 726,500

Big deal. I don’t want to know approximately how many rubber bands this guy has. I want to know exactly. He could probably be in the book twice for COUNTING the most rubber bands too. He should put a bit of effort into his "World's Record" listing.

If you're going to be famous and make your parents proud, at least aim for an accomplishment/collection that Guiness doesn't think is weird! If the good people at Guiness have to discourage your claim, it's time to move on!